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  <div class="section" id="module-smtplib">
<span id="smtplib-smtp-protocol-client"></span><h1>20.12. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-smtplib" title="smtplib: SMTP protocol client (requires sockets)."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtplib</span></tt></a> &#8212; SMTP protocol client<a class="headerlink" href="#module-smtplib" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p id="index-0"><strong>Source code:</strong> <a class="reference external" href="http://hg.python.org/cpython/file/2.7/Lib/smtplib.py">Lib/smtplib.py</a></p>
<hr class="docutils" />
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-smtplib" title="smtplib: SMTP protocol client (requires sockets)."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtplib</span></tt></a> module defines an SMTP client session object that can be used
to send mail to any Internet machine with an SMTP or ESMTP listener daemon.  For
details of SMTP and ESMTP operation, consult <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc821.html"><strong>RFC 821</strong></a> (Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol) and <span class="target" id="index-2"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1869.html"><strong>RFC 1869</strong></a> (SMTP Service Extensions).</p>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP">
<em class="property">class </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTP</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>host</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>port</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>local_hostname</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>timeout</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>A <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a> instance encapsulates an SMTP connection.  It has methods
that support a full repertoire of SMTP and ESMTP operations. If the optional
host and port parameters are given, the SMTP <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.connect" title="smtplib.SMTP.connect"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">connect()</span></tt></a> method is
called with those parameters during initialization.  If specified,
<em>local_hostname</em> is used as the FQDN of the local host in the HELO/EHLO
command.  Otherwise, the local hostname is found using
<a class="reference internal" href="socket.html#socket.getfqdn" title="socket.getfqdn"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">socket.getfqdn()</span></tt></a>.  If the <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.connect" title="smtplib.SMTP.connect"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">connect()</span></tt></a> call returns anything other
than a success code, an <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPConnectError" title="smtplib.SMTPConnectError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPConnectError</span></tt></a> is raised. The optional
<em>timeout</em> parameter specifies a timeout in seconds for blocking operations
like the connection attempt (if not specified, the global default timeout
setting will be used).  If the timeout expires, <a class="reference internal" href="socket.html#socket.timeout" title="socket.timeout"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">socket.timeout</span></tt></a>
is raised.</p>
<p>For normal use, you should only require the initialization/connect,
<a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail" title="smtplib.SMTP.sendmail"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">sendmail()</span></tt></a>, and <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">quit()</span></tt> methods.
An example is included below.</p>
<p class="versionchanged">
<span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.6: </span><em>timeout</em> was added.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP_SSL">
<em class="property">class </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTP_SSL</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>host</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>port</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>local_hostname</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>keyfile</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>certfile</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>timeout</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP_SSL" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>A <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP_SSL" title="smtplib.SMTP_SSL"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP_SSL</span></tt></a> instance behaves exactly the same as instances of
<a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a>. <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP_SSL" title="smtplib.SMTP_SSL"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP_SSL</span></tt></a> should be used for situations where SSL is
required from the beginning of the connection and using <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">starttls()</span></tt> is
not appropriate. If <em>host</em> is not specified, the local host is used. If
<em>port</em> is omitted, the standard SMTP-over-SSL port (465) is used.
<em>local_hostname</em> has the same meaning as it does for the <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a>
class.  <em>keyfile</em> and <em>certfile</em> are also optional, and can contain a PEM
formatted private key and certificate chain file for the SSL connection. The
optional <em>timeout</em> parameter specifies a timeout in seconds for blocking
operations like the connection attempt (if not specified, the global default
timeout setting will be used).  If the timeout expires, <a class="reference internal" href="socket.html#socket.timeout" title="socket.timeout"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">socket.timeout</span></tt></a>
is raised.</p>
<p class="versionadded">
<span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="smtplib.LMTP">
<em class="property">class </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">LMTP</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>host</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>port</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>local_hostname</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.LMTP" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The LMTP protocol, which is very similar to ESMTP, is heavily based on the
standard SMTP client. It&#8217;s common to use Unix sockets for LMTP, so our
<tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">connect()</span></tt> method must support that as well as a regular host:port
server.  <em>local_hostname</em> has the same meaning as it does for the
<a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a> class.  To specify a Unix socket, you must use an absolute
path for <em>host</em>, starting with a &#8216;/&#8217;.</p>
<p>Authentication is supported, using the regular SMTP mechanism. When using a
Unix socket, LMTP generally don&#8217;t support or require any authentication, but
your mileage might vary.</p>
<p class="versionadded">
<span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</dd></dl>

<p>A nice selection of exceptions is defined as well:</p>
<dl class="exception">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTPException">
<em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPException</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPException" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The base exception class for all the other exceptions provided by this
module.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="exception">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected">
<em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPServerDisconnected</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>This exception is raised when the server unexpectedly disconnects, or when an
attempt is made to use the <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a> instance before connecting it to a
server.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="exception">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTPResponseException">
<em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPResponseException</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPResponseException" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Base class for all exceptions that include an SMTP error code. These exceptions
are generated in some instances when the SMTP server returns an error code.  The
error code is stored in the <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtp_code</span></tt> attribute of the error, and the
<tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtp_error</span></tt> attribute is set to the error message.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="exception">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTPSenderRefused">
<em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPSenderRefused</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPSenderRefused" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Sender address refused.  In addition to the attributes set by on all
<a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPResponseException" title="smtplib.SMTPResponseException"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPResponseException</span></tt></a> exceptions, this sets &#8216;sender&#8217; to the string that
the SMTP server refused.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="exception">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTPRecipientsRefused">
<em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPRecipientsRefused</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPRecipientsRefused" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>All recipient addresses refused.  The errors for each recipient are accessible
through the attribute <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">recipients</span></tt>, which is a dictionary of exactly the
same sort as <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail" title="smtplib.SMTP.sendmail"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP.sendmail()</span></tt></a> returns.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="exception">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTPDataError">
<em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPDataError</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPDataError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The SMTP server refused to accept the message data.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="exception">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTPConnectError">
<em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPConnectError</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPConnectError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Error occurred during establishment of a connection  with the server.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="exception">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTPHeloError">
<em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPHeloError</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPHeloError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The server refused our <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> message.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="exception">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError">
<em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPAuthenticationError</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>SMTP authentication went wrong.  Most probably the server didn&#8217;t accept the
username/password combination provided.</p>
</dd></dl>

<div class="admonition-see-also admonition seealso">
<p class="first admonition-title">See also</p>
<dl class="last docutils">
<dt><span class="target" id="index-3"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc821.html"><strong>RFC 821</strong></a> - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol</dt>
<dd>Protocol definition for SMTP.  This document covers the model, operating
procedure, and protocol details for SMTP.</dd>
<dt><span class="target" id="index-4"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1869.html"><strong>RFC 1869</strong></a> - SMTP Service Extensions</dt>
<dd>Definition of the ESMTP extensions for SMTP.  This describes a framework for
extending SMTP with new commands, supporting dynamic discovery of the commands
provided by the server, and defines a few additional commands.</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<div class="section" id="smtp-objects">
<span id="id1"></span><h2>20.12.1. SMTP Objects<a class="headerlink" href="#smtp-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>An <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a> instance has the following methods:</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.set_debuglevel">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">set_debuglevel</tt><big>(</big><em>level</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.set_debuglevel" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Set the debug output level.  A true value for <em>level</em> results in debug messages
for connection and for all messages sent to and received from the server.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.docmd">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">docmd</tt><big>(</big><em>cmd</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>argstring</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.docmd" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Send a command <em>cmd</em> to the server.  The optional argument <em>argstring</em> is simply
concatenated to the command, separated by a space.</p>
<p>This returns a 2-tuple composed of a numeric response code and the actual
response line (multiline responses are joined into one long line.)</p>
<p>In normal operation it should not be necessary to call this method explicitly.
It is used to implement other methods and may be useful for testing private
extensions.</p>
<p>If the connection to the server is lost while waiting for the reply,
<a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected" title="smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPServerDisconnected</span></tt></a> will be raised.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.connect">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">connect</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>host</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>port</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.connect" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Connect to a host on a given port.  The defaults are to connect to the local
host at the standard SMTP port (25). If the hostname ends with a colon (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">':'</span></tt>)
followed by a number, that suffix will be stripped off and the number
interpreted as the port number to use. This method is automatically invoked by
the constructor if a host is specified during instantiation.  Returns a
2-tuple of the response code and message sent by the server in its
connection response.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.helo">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">helo</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>hostname</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.helo" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Identify yourself to the SMTP server using <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt>.  The hostname argument
defaults to the fully qualified domain name of the local host.
The message returned by the server is stored as the <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">helo_resp</span></tt> attribute
of the object.</p>
<p>In normal operation it should not be necessary to call this method explicitly.
It will be implicitly called by the <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail" title="smtplib.SMTP.sendmail"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">sendmail()</span></tt></a> when necessary.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.ehlo">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">ehlo</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>hostname</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.ehlo" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Identify yourself to an ESMTP server using <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt>.  The hostname argument
defaults to the fully qualified domain name of the local host.  Examine the
response for ESMTP option and store them for use by <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.has_extn" title="smtplib.SMTP.has_extn"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">has_extn()</span></tt></a>.
Also sets several informational attributes: the message returned by
the server is stored as the <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">ehlo_resp</span></tt> attribute, <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">does_esmtp</span></tt>
is set to true or false depending on whether the server supports ESMTP, and
<tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">esmtp_features</span></tt> will be a dictionary containing the names of the
SMTP service extensions this server supports, and their
parameters (if any).</p>
<p>Unless you wish to use <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.has_extn" title="smtplib.SMTP.has_extn"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">has_extn()</span></tt></a> before sending mail, it should not be
necessary to call this method explicitly.  It will be implicitly called by
<a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail" title="smtplib.SMTP.sendmail"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">sendmail()</span></tt></a> when necessary.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.ehlo_or_helo_if_needed">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">ehlo_or_helo_if_needed</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.ehlo_or_helo_if_needed" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>This method call <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.ehlo" title="smtplib.SMTP.ehlo"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">ehlo()</span></tt></a> and or <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.helo" title="smtplib.SMTP.helo"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">helo()</span></tt></a> if there has been no
previous <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> command this session.  It tries ESMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt>
first.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPHeloError" title="smtplib.SMTPHeloError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPHeloError</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>The server didn&#8217;t reply properly to the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> greeting.</dd>
</dl>
<p class="versionadded">
<span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.has_extn">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">has_extn</tt><big>(</big><em>name</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.has_extn" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><tt class="xref py py-const xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt></a> if <em>name</em> is in the set of SMTP service extensions returned
by the server, <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#False" title="False"><tt class="xref py py-const xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt></a> otherwise. Case is ignored.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.verify">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">verify</tt><big>(</big><em>address</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.verify" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Check the validity of an address on this server using SMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">VRFY</span></tt>. Returns a
tuple consisting of code 250 and a full <span class="target" id="index-5"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a> address (including human
name) if the user address is valid. Otherwise returns an SMTP error code of 400
or greater and an error string.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last">Many sites disable SMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">VRFY</span></tt> in order to foil spammers.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.login">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">login</tt><big>(</big><em>user</em>, <em>password</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.login" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Log in on an SMTP server that requires authentication. The arguments are the
username and the password to authenticate with. If there has been no previous
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> command this session, this method tries ESMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt>
first. This method will return normally if the authentication was successful, or
may raise the following exceptions:</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPHeloError" title="smtplib.SMTPHeloError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPHeloError</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>The server didn&#8217;t reply properly to the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> greeting.</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError" title="smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPAuthenticationError</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>The server didn&#8217;t accept the username/password combination.</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPException" title="smtplib.SMTPException"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPException</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>No suitable authentication method was found.</dd>
</dl>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.starttls">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">starttls</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>keyfile</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>certfile</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.starttls" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Put the SMTP connection in TLS (Transport Layer Security) mode.  All SMTP
commands that follow will be encrypted.  You should then call <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.ehlo" title="smtplib.SMTP.ehlo"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">ehlo()</span></tt></a>
again.</p>
<p>If <em>keyfile</em> and <em>certfile</em> are provided, these are passed to the <a class="reference internal" href="socket.html#module-socket" title="socket: Low-level networking interface."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">socket</span></tt></a>
module&#8217;s <a class="reference internal" href="ssl.html#module-ssl" title="ssl: TLS/SSL wrapper for socket objects"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">ssl()</span></tt></a> function.</p>
<p>If there has been no previous <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> command this session,
this method tries ESMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> first.</p>
<p class="versionchanged">
<span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.6.</span></p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPHeloError" title="smtplib.SMTPHeloError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPHeloError</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>The server didn&#8217;t reply properly to the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> greeting.</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPException" title="smtplib.SMTPException"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPException</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>The server does not support the STARTTLS extension.</dd>
</dl>
<p class="versionchanged">
<span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.6.</span></p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.RuntimeError" title="exceptions.RuntimeError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">RuntimeError</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>SSL/TLS support is not available to your Python interpreter.</dd>
</dl>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.sendmail">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">sendmail</tt><big>(</big><em>from_addr</em>, <em>to_addrs</em>, <em>msg</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>mail_options</em>, <em>rcpt_options</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Send mail.  The required arguments are an <span class="target" id="index-6"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a> from-address string, a list
of <span class="target" id="index-7"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a> to-address strings (a bare string will be treated as a list with 1
address), and a message string.  The caller may pass a list of ESMTP options
(such as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">8bitmime</span></tt>) to be used in <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">MAIL</span> <span class="pre">FROM</span></tt> commands as <em>mail_options</em>.
ESMTP options (such as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">DSN</span></tt> commands) that should be used with all <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">RCPT</span></tt>
commands can be passed as <em>rcpt_options</em>.  (If you need to use different ESMTP
options to different recipients you have to use the low-level methods such as
<tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">mail()</span></tt>, <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">rcpt()</span></tt> and <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">data()</span></tt> to send the message.)</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last">The <em>from_addr</em> and <em>to_addrs</em> parameters are used to construct the message
envelope used by the transport agents. The <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a> does not modify the
message headers in any way.</p>
</div>
<p>If there has been no previous <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> command this session, this
method tries ESMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> first. If the server does ESMTP, message size and
each of the specified options will be passed to it (if the option is in the
feature set the server advertises).  If <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> fails, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> will be tried
and ESMTP options suppressed.</p>
<p>This method will return normally if the mail is accepted for at least one
recipient. Otherwise it will raise an exception.  That is, if this method does
not raise an exception, then someone should get your mail. If this method does
not raise an exception, it returns a dictionary, with one entry for each
recipient that was refused.  Each entry contains a tuple of the SMTP error code
and the accompanying error message sent by the server.</p>
<p>This method may raise the following exceptions:</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPRecipientsRefused" title="smtplib.SMTPRecipientsRefused"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPRecipientsRefused</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>All recipients were refused.  Nobody got the mail.  The <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">recipients</span></tt>
attribute of the exception object is a dictionary with information about the
refused recipients (like the one returned when at least one recipient was
accepted).</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPHeloError" title="smtplib.SMTPHeloError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPHeloError</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>The server didn&#8217;t reply properly to the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> greeting.</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPSenderRefused" title="smtplib.SMTPSenderRefused"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPSenderRefused</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>The server didn&#8217;t accept the <em>from_addr</em>.</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPDataError" title="smtplib.SMTPDataError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPDataError</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>The server replied with an unexpected error code (other than a refusal of a
recipient).</dd>
</dl>
<p>Unless otherwise noted, the connection will be open even after an exception is
raised.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="smtplib.SMTP.quit">
<tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">quit</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.quit" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Terminate the SMTP session and close the connection.  Return the result of
the SMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">QUIT</span></tt> command.</p>
<p class="versionchanged">
<span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.6: </span>Return a value.</p>
</dd></dl>

<p>Low-level methods corresponding to the standard SMTP/ESMTP commands <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELP</span></tt>,
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">RSET</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">NOOP</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">MAIL</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">RCPT</span></tt>, and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">DATA</span></tt> are also supported.
Normally these do not need to be called directly, so they are not documented
here.  For details, consult the module code.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="smtp-example">
<span id="id2"></span><h2>20.12.2. SMTP Example<a class="headerlink" href="#smtp-example" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This example prompts the user for addresses needed in the message envelope (&#8216;To&#8217;
and &#8216;From&#8217; addresses), and the message to be delivered.  Note that the headers
to be included with the message must be included in the message as entered; this
example doesn&#8217;t do any processing of the <span class="target" id="index-8"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a> headers.  In particular, the
&#8216;To&#8217; and &#8216;From&#8217; addresses must be included in the message headers explicitly.</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">smtplib</span>

<span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">prompt</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">prompt</span><span class="p">):</span>
    <span class="k">return</span> <span class="nb">raw_input</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">prompt</span><span class="p">)</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">strip</span><span class="p">()</span>

<span class="n">fromaddr</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">prompt</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">&quot;From: &quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">toaddrs</span>  <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">prompt</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">&quot;To: &quot;</span><span class="p">)</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">split</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="k">print</span> <span class="s">&quot;Enter message, end with ^D (Unix) or ^Z (Windows):&quot;</span>

<span class="c"># Add the From: and To: headers at the start!</span>
<span class="n">msg</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="s">&quot;From: </span><span class="si">%s</span><span class="se">\r\n</span><span class="s">To: </span><span class="si">%s</span><span class="se">\r\n\r\n</span><span class="s">&quot;</span>
       <span class="o">%</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="n">fromaddr</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s">&quot;, &quot;</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">join</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">toaddrs</span><span class="p">)))</span>
<span class="k">while</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">:</span>
    <span class="k">try</span><span class="p">:</span>
        <span class="n">line</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="nb">raw_input</span><span class="p">()</span>
    <span class="k">except</span> <span class="ne">EOFError</span><span class="p">:</span>
        <span class="k">break</span>
    <span class="k">if</span> <span class="ow">not</span> <span class="n">line</span><span class="p">:</span>
        <span class="k">break</span>
    <span class="n">msg</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">msg</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="n">line</span>

<span class="k">print</span> <span class="s">&quot;Message length is &quot;</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="nb">repr</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="nb">len</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">msg</span><span class="p">))</span>

<span class="n">server</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">smtplib</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">SMTP</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">&#39;localhost&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">server</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_debuglevel</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">server</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">sendmail</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">fromaddr</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">toaddrs</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">msg</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">server</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">quit</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last">In general, you will want to use the <a class="reference internal" href="email.html#module-email" title="email: Package supporting the parsing, manipulating, and generating email messages, including MIME documents."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">email</span></tt></a> package&#8217;s features to
construct an email message, which you can then convert to a string and send
via <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">sendmail()</span></tt>; see <a class="reference internal" href="email-examples.html#email-examples"><em>email: Examples</em></a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>


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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">20.12. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtplib</span></tt> &#8212; SMTP protocol client</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#smtp-objects">20.12.1. SMTP Objects</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#smtp-example">20.12.2. SMTP Example</a></li>
</ul>
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